Product Code Database
Dean Charles Ing (June 17, 1931 – July 21, 2020) was an American author, who usually wrote in the science fiction and techno-thriller genres. His novel The Ransom of Black Stealth One (1989) was a New York Times bestseller. NYT Paperback Best Sellers: April 22, 1990 He wrote more than 30 novels, and co-authored novels with his friends Jerry Pournelle, S. M. Stirling, and Leik Myrabo. Following the death of science fiction author Mack Reynolds in 1983, Ing was asked to finish several of Reynolds' uncompleted manuscripts.
Ing was a United States Air Force veteran (where he served as a USAF interceptor crew chief), a former aerospace engineer, and a university professor who held a doctorate in communications theory. He was a former member of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.
Ashland Tidings obituaries
Ing's short story "Devil You Don't Know" was both a Hugo Award nominee and Nebula Award nominee in 1979.
Kirkus Reviews also gave a positive review to Ing's novel The Nemesis Mission, stating: "The enormous cast can be confusing, and the setup takes extraordinarily long—but the tone is light, the gimmickry supports the fun, and the chase, when it comes, is a ripsnorter."
Publishers Weekly had praise for his 1995 novel Spooker, stating: "Ing's earlier novels ( Butcher Bird, etc.) imaginatively described the special world of experimental aircraft and weaponry. Here he enters new territory, both geographically (California's Central Valley from Bakersfield to Fresno, detailed with accurate local color) and thematically, proving that he is a master of ground-based spy novels as well as of high-in-the-sky techno-thrillers. The high-tech touches that do appear, including an intriguing ultra-light aircraft, are pure Ing, who seems to have relished creating the peculiar world of his two monstrous villains. Tinged with a sense that life is bittersweet, this is a welcome offering from an always entertaining author."
Publishers Weekly also had positive remarks for his 2000 novel Loose Cannon: "Ing takes direct aim at the reader's sense of humor—connecting more often than not—in this lighthearted thriller about a Silicon Valley engineer forced into hiding after one of his inventions attracts the interest of the wrong people. ...The thriller as farce is only one of Ing's modes—he also writes sci-fi-inflected suspense novels and more serious techno-thrillers—but it is his best. The witty repartee and situational humor of his latest amusement are strained at times, but Ing continues to mine a profitable side vein in a field crowded with the claims of more conventional thriller writers."
Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Ing and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy. Heinlein’s Dedications Page Jane Davitt & Tim Morgan Accessed August 20 2008
In an interview for the July 29, 1996, issue of Medford Mail Tribune, Dean Ing made mention of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. He said: "I predict more of the same," he said, "because we haven't learned anything and they have." Medford Mail Tribune, July 29, 1996, p. B-1
|
|
